


Of Apple Blossoms and Yarrow

by Eskarina



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Flowers, Fluff, Getting Together, I am once again offering you some humble cheese, Language of Flowers, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-09
Updated: 2020-08-09
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:40:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25793782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eskarina/pseuds/Eskarina
Summary: It's usually weekly or bi-weekly that Kuroo brings over flowers of some sort, a kind of habit he's kept up over all the years they've been friends. Sometimes Kenma wishes he had asked the first time it ever happened, because he can't help but wonder now.Why don't you just keep them in your room if you like them? Does this mean anything to you?
Relationships: Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou
Comments: 60
Kudos: 480
Collections: My favorite haikyuu fics, Recommended KuroKen Fics





	Of Apple Blossoms and Yarrow

Kuroo seems to like flowers. Despite that, he usually never keeps any in his room. It's always on Kenma to fetch a vase whenever Kuroo comes over with a single flower he picked off the side of the road, or off a tree, or, more rarely, an entire bouquet that he got from the nearby flower shop. He usually hands them to Kenma wordlessly, like he doesn't need to explain himself, like it's the most normal thing in the world. Which, maybe it is, Kenma doesn't really know.

The whole thing started with apple blossoms. Kuroo's garden has an apple tree, left behind by the previous family when they moved out. The flowers are a bright white, sometimes pale pink, covering entire branches with their delicate petals. They bloom when spring comes to a close and gives way to summer, the longing for holidays getting stronger with every passing day, heat seeping into their rooms in the early afternoon.

"They're pretty, right?" Kuroo had said, holding out a torn off branch for Kenma to look at. Kenma only nodded, still somewhat shy around the friend he had just made a couple of months ago. "You can have them. I have an entire tree, so I don't need them."

Kenma had wondered if there was any specific need for apple blossoms at all, but decided against asking questions and potentially looking dumb.

The blossoms only last for a couple of days, so nowadays Kuroo brings a branch over when they're just starting to open, and Kenma can watch them transform into full bloom and then to decay in the repurposed glass bottle by the window he always keeps them in.

It's usually weekly or bi-weekly that Kuroo brings over flowers of some sort, a kind of habit he's kept up over all the years they've been friends. Sometimes Kenma wishes he had asked the first time it ever happened, because he can't help but wonder now. _Why don't you just keep them in your room if you like them?_ _Does this mean anything to you?_ They don’t talk about it, it’s an unwritten rule Kenma doesn’t want to break, because he’s got the irrational fear Kuroo will stop if he asks.

♡

There are plenty of things Kenma likes about Kuroo. He likes the dumb jokes, even though he would never admit it. He likes the way Kuroo gets excited about things, all big gestures and sparkling eyes. Likes that Kuroo is gentle in ways people wouldn’t expect, like waiting ten minutes just for the neighborhood cat to finally walk up to him and let him pet it for a couple of seconds. Or the way he always seems to immediately notice whenever Kenma gets uncomfortable and makes sure to diffuse the situation without ever mentioning it. Kenma wants to keep these sides to himself, selfish as that may be.

He’s sorely aware of the way his heart jumps and stutters when he looks at the pink camellias on his windowsill, slowly starting to hang their heads because they've been there for three days. He thinks he'll let these ones dry and put them in one of the shoe boxes that he keeps hidden under his bed, filled with flowers that looked like they meant something special, something romantic maybe, even if he's just projecting his own feelings onto them.

His friendship with Kuroo hasn't changed, they're just as they always have been, and Kenma is content this way. He shoves his feelings into that shoe box along with a flurry of red and pink, dry petals rustling against each other in a way that would be traitorous if anyone were to hear.

♡

It's a couple of days after Kenma's seventeenth birthday. Kuroo has never given him red roses before. Kenma stares at them in bewilderment, not quite making sense of what he's seeing.

"What?" Kuroo asks, and tilts his head. "Are there too many? You were able to fit the last ones, though, right?"

"No, they're fine. Thank you," Kenma says automatically and takes the bouquet from Kuroo. Bouquets have become more common lately, maybe because the novelty of roadside flowers has worn off, or just because Kuroo likes flashy things more and more these days.

There's six of them, and Kenma puts them on his desk instead of his windowsill. His empty glass bottle can only take so much, so the roses are sitting in his mom's fancy vase that he snuck from the kitchen, suddenly feeling bashful, like he wouldn't be able to answer any of her questions if she were to ask.

At nighttime, after Kuroo has gone home, Kenma sits at his desk. He can't focus. He's been standing in front of a Dark Souls boss encounter for fifteen minutes, and has made no attempt to go in.

Six deep red roses, sitting on his desk. They're big, bigger than he thought roses would be, and he can smell them without even having to get close to them. He runs a finger over their petals, carefully, just to see if they feel as velvety as they look. They don't have to mean anything. Kenma knows roses are pretty expensive, so maybe that's why Kuroo hasn't bought them before. Maybe he didn't feel the need to clarify _"these don't mean anything by the way, I just thought they were pretty"_ because he thought it was a given.

There's no way Kenma will ever understand Kuroo's thought process without asking, and there's absolutely no way he'll ask. Still, he can't stop staring at them and imagining a scenario in which they do mean something, in which he won’t have to keep them in a shoe box because Kuroo will just get him more roses when these ones eventually droop and wilt. It's a thoroughly selfish thought, because roses are very expensive and Kuroo's friendship is already more than Kenma can realistically ask for.

♡

Kuroo graduates about half a year later, with honors and everything. Kenma teases him about it afterwards, because he doesn't know anyone else who enjoys studying quite as much as Kuroo, the nerd. Kuroo teases him back about something related to video games, but Kenma isn't really listening, instead watching the patterns of light and shadow the sun is casting on Kuroo's face, the leaves above their heads in constant motion.

They're sitting under their favorite tree on school grounds, which has functioned as their lunch spot as well as their nap spot, study spot, and general hangout spot over the past two years they've spent together at Nekoma high. Kuroo closes his eyes when the leaves move out of place again, his dark lashes a stark contrast against his skin. Kenma wonders what it would be like to kiss him right now, but doesn't let himself get as far as to actually consider it.

It's not like he can risk anything because today is their last day or anything. Tomorrow, Kuroo will still be his neighbor and his best friend. He's not even moving for college, because it's only half an hour away and dorms are expensive. Really, most things will stay the same.

There's still an uncomfortable tightness in Kenma's chest when they walk through the school gate together for the last time, like a chapter of his life is coming to a close without him having accomplished an important goal. It's just pointless sentimentality, he tells himself.

The walk home is quiet, almost serene, until they’re about to pass the flower shop.

"Wait here for a minute," Kuroo says and maneuvers Kenma to the side of the road, under the shadow of another tree. "I'll be right back."

Kenma should probably say something courteous like _"you don't have to get me anything, save your money"_ , but, knowing Kuroo, he probably wouldn't listen. And, as pathetic as he maybe feels about it, Kenma thinks flowers would genuinely make him feel significantly better about the whole Kuroo graduating thing. They're a constant, a sign that things will stay the same, they'll continue to hang out, Kenma won't get left behind. So he just nods and waits.

The street is deserted, since their neighborhood is relatively quiet in general and everyone is either at work or taking shelter from the heat at this time. He's just about to pull out his phone to distract himself with some video game when the door of the shop jingles again, and Kuroo steps back outside. The whole thing went so fast that Kenma can’t help but think Kuroo must have had something reserved, but that would mean that he doesn’t just do these things on a whim, that he puts more effort into them than Kenma wants to consider possible.

Kenma sucks in a breath when his eyes catch on the flowers, blue and purple, their long stalks and big, rounded leaves a strong contrast to the small and delicate petals. Kuroo comes to stand in front of him, a gentle smile on his face that makes it difficult to meet his eyes.

"Here you go," he says and holds the bouquet of forget-me-nots out to Kenma, who takes them with careful hands. Despite receiving them for years upon years, Kenma doesn't know a lot about flowers, neither their names nor their meanings, but his mom used to keep forget-me-nots in their garden when he was a kid, so he remembers. It's almost too thematic to be an accident.

"Do these," Kenma realizes he's barely audible, so he tries again. "Do these mean anything in particular?"

Kuroo gives him an appreciative grin, not unlike the one he gives Kenma when he lets him ramble about "fun" physics facts.

"Well, yes. Aside from the obvious meaning of their name, they also represent a long lasting and unbreakable connection. It’s a bit cheesy, I guess. But since you'll be going off to school all by yourself, making new friends and everything, I thought they'd be nice. Don't forget about me when you're all cool and grown up, alright?" Kuroo's tone is light and teasing, but Kenma has paid enough attention to him over the years to know when he's acting.

Urgency curls inside his chest, makes his hands shake and goosebumps rise on his skin. Six red roses on his desk are burnt into his memory just like the shape of Kuroo’s lips or the sound of his laugh, things Kenma holds dear more than anything else. "Did the other ones mean something, too?" he asks, making sure to keep his voice as calm as possible.

Kuroo looks like a deer caught in the headlights, eyes wide and smile frozen in place. He clears his throat and averts his gaze, studying Kenma's left sleeve like it's the most interesting thing in the world.

The crunch of the gravel as he shifts his feet and the chirping of the cicadas are the only sounds around them, and maybe Kenma's own heartbeat pounding in his ears, if that counts. Kuroo lifts his eyes back up to meet Kenma’s, giving him a tiny smile, much smaller than the ones he usually wears for all the world to see.

"Yes, they all meant something. Well, maybe not the ones that I picked off the side of the road, but, you know."

Kenma digs his fingers into the wrapping paper around his flowers, yellow just like the center of the blossoms. His brain is working on overdrive with the effort to comprehend everything at once, and the sound of the cicadas isn’t helping, distracting him as he tries again and again to form a response.

"Wanna go home?" Kuroo asks, lightly patting Kenma’s shoulder, as if nothing just happened.

Kenma realizes Kuroo isn’t even expecting an answer, or maybe he just knows Kenma is overwhelmed and is giving him an out. Almost on autopilot, he says, "Okay." Kuroo smiles at him again, his regular smile now, and turns to walk down the road to their houses.

He puts the forget-me-nots into the fancy vase, because there’s too many of them to fit into the bottle, and he feels like they deserve special treatment anyway. He still hasn’t figured out what to say, and Kuroo doesn’t ask, just hangs out in Kenma’s room, flipping through Volleyball Weekly and then burying his head in a textbook while Kenma plays video games next to him. If Kuroo notices Kenma getting his ass kicked in Smash much more than usual, he doesn’t mention it.

Later, after Kuroo has gone home, Kenma sits on his floor, pulls out the shoe boxes from under his bed and opens them. The flowers in there are still mostly intact, even if dry and wilted. It’s an almost ridiculous amount, but then again, he’s been collecting them over years. He doesn’t know the names of most of them, so he'll have to figure them out with the help of google images, one at a time.

He picks a white one first, with formerly soft, big petals that furled at the ends, surrounded by glossy, dark green leaves.

 _Gardenia_ , his Google search tells him, _symbolizes purity and sweetness. They can also be given to convey secret love._

A burning sensation builds somewhere in Kenma's chest, spreads through him, up his neck and down his arms, until it makes his hands tremble and his face flush. The urgency from earlier is back again, more intense now, as he picks up the next flower to decipher.

The sun starts going up around 4 am, but he doesn’t pay it any mind. It's past 7 when he reaches the bottom of the last box, knees and back aching from the awkward position he's been sitting in the entire time.

A lot of the flowers covering his bedroom floor are straight forward declarations of love, from the purple lilac to the deep red chrysanthemum with a myriad of long, pointy petals. He remembers this one being a deep burgundy when it was still fresh, lasting almost two weeks on his windowsill.

There are red tulips for passion, pink camellias with an impressive amount of almost perfectly symmetrical petals for longing and red ones for desire. Blood red carnations, frayed and layered, expressing heartache. The violets representing devotion and loyalty almost crumble under his fingertips, their formerly vibrant color now reduced to a dusty purple.

Different kinds of amaryllis, all with big, pointy petals, symbolize beauty and strength. Kenma would assume they were there on accident, if there weren’t so many of them. There are some outliers to the romantic meanings too, like the incredibly pretty alstroemeria signifying friendship with its flurry of orange, peppered with dark stripes.

All facets of Kuroo’s love, so blatant to see splayed out on Kenma’s bedroom floor. From tenderness to passion, pain to happiness, Kenma sees his own feelings reflected back to him as sunlight floods his room at 7:13 in the morning.

He puts everything back into its place, careful not to ruffle the flowers any more than he already has, draws the blinds shut and crawls into bed. Suddenly, he’s exhausted beyond belief, but his pounding heart probably won’t let him sleep for a while. Just when he thinks he’s finally calmed down, he remembers to look up one last thing.

_The Hidden Meaning Behind the Number of Roses in Your Bouquet_

_Published Feb. 7, 2020_

He skips through the article until he hits the interesting part.

_One: love at first sight, or years later “you are still the one”_

_Two: mutual love and affection_

_Three: simply “I love you”_

_Six: infatuation, or “I want to be yours”_

Kenma doesn’t manage to fall asleep until the red letters on his alarm clock inform him it’s past 8 am.

♡

On Saturday that week, Kuroo goes to the center of Tokyo to take a tour at his preferred university with Bokuto. Kenma declines to join them, not just because Kuroo and Bokuto together are nearly unbearable, but because he’s formed a plan.

He generally dislikes going anywhere on his own, preferring to stick to his friends or stay at home in the first place, but he powers through all the way to the gardening shop. He even forces himself to ask a friendly looking staff member for assistance, and before he knows it he’s back in their neighborhood with a knee high, potted rose bush in his hands. He’s beyond exhausted from the sweltering heat and the plant is getting heavier by the second, but he still drags himself to Kuroo’s house with it.

“It’s perfectly fine in the pot, but if you have a garden to plant it in, it will grow a lot faster,” the employee had said, and sold him some fertilizer while she was at it. Kenma rings the doorbell at Kuroo’s home. He does have a key, but he feels like it would be slightly too much to simply waltz in and start digging a hole in their garden. Kuroo’s dad opens the door, breaking out into a surprised laugh when he sees Kenma in his full exhausted and cranky glory, clutching his rose bush like a lifeline.

“It’s a graduation gift,” Kenma says, trying to smile through the feeling of his arms about to snap off. “Do you mind if I plant them?”

If Kuroo’s dad finds it weird that his son is getting an entire red rose bush planted in their garden for graduation, he doesn’t show it. Instead, he supplies Kenma with a rake and a shovel and offers his help with digging.

“It’s fine, I don’t want to cause you any trouble,” Kenma says, and hopes he comes across as somewhat convincing even though he almost stumbled over his own feet on the way to the backyard.

Kuroo’s dad leaves him to it, and Kenma gets to work, going off of one YouTube tutorial and some good faith alone. He could have accepted the help, but there’s something embarrassingly intimate about what he's doing here, and he feels some sort of deep urge to do the whole thing on his own. As if it's payback for all the thought and effort Kuroo has been putting into expressing his feelings over all these years, effort Kenma let go to waste because he was too scared to even consider them as a possibility.

When he finally sets the rose bush down in the hole he's dug for it and pats fresh soil around it, his back is killing him and he can consider his pants a lost cause, as stained as they are from him kneeling in the dirt. However, as he takes a step back to admire his work, albeit a bit wonky, the sense of giddy anticipation that fills him is beyond worth it.

By the time Kuroo messages him it's around 7 pm, and the sun is just starting to set. Kenma has showered and taken an extended nap, but his arms still feel like lead, and will probably continue to ache for the next few days.

Kuro: _I'm almost back should I come over for dinner_ _👀_

Kenma: _Yeah but go to your place first, I got you something. It's in the backyard._

Kuro: _Oh wow?? I can not WAIT to try out my new Hollywood swing you’re so thoughtful_ 😍

Kenma: _Someone's setting himself up for disappointment._

Kuro: 🙄

Going back over to Kuroo's place, Kenma does use his key this time, sneaking through the entrance room into the kitchen and then out into the backyard. It feels a bit like a home invasion, but he really doesn’t know how he would explain himself to Kuroo’s dad at this point. He resists the urge to sit on the ground because he’s already lost one pair of pants today, and waits.

A couple of minutes pass, and he’s just starting to consider the Hollywood swing idea, when he hears keys jingle at the front door. The fact that Kuroo is about to walk out here and Kenma will have to confront the entire situation at least to some extent catches up to him belatedly, making his already exhausted body shiver despite the heat.

Kuroo peeks his head out of the kitchen, eyes wide and curious. Kenma knows he's at least somewhat obscuring the plant behind him, but that doesn't make things any easier. He folds his hands and opts for watching bugs scuttle across the grass until Kuroo's feet come to a stop right in front of him.

"What's that," Kuroo asks, breathless like he just ran a mile.

"A gift," Kenma says, and forces himself to look up. “I’m not… good with words. Or this stuff in general.” Kuroo seems to be stunned into silence, eyes darting between the roses and Kenma’s face. “I really wanted to give you a flower back for every one you’ve given me over the years, but I’m not sure how that would logistically work,” Kenma continues, kneading his cold and shaky hands.

Kuroo makes a half laughing, half choking sound. Kenma isn’t sure if he’s breathing correctly, but he’s determined to push through this embarrassing monologue.

“So I’m hoping,” he makes a vague gesture to the plant behind him, “maybe this thing will even it out over time. Even though I don’t really know how many flowers it gets. I just wanted to say-” His throat constricts around the words he’s trying to get out. _I love you. Just say it, it’s not that hard._ Kuroo suspiciously looks like he’s about to cry, which Kenma wants to avoid at all costs, even if they’re happy tears.

“You could kiss me now, if you wanted to,” he says.

It’s not what he was originally going for, but it seems to snap Kuroo out of it. His bottom lip stops quivering and he sucks in a breath. “Oh my god,” he says. Kenma tilts his head to the side, waiting. “Okay. Okay, yeah.”

It’s almost impossible to fight the smile trying to spread across Kenma’s face as Kuroo takes a step forward to close the distance between them. He entwines their fingers first, gripping Kenma’s hand gently as if to stop it from shaking. His other hand comes up to cup Kenma’s cheek in a gesture that feels so tender he nearly stops breathing altogether, right before Kuroo leans down and finally brushes their lips together.

Kenma lets his eyes fall shut and revels in the feeling, pure, sparkling joy surging in his chest to the point where it’s almost too intense, bordering on painful. He grips Kuroo’s hand tight, holds on to it as they kiss in the subsiding evening heat, unhurried as if time will stop for them.

When they separate and Kuroo grins down at him, a bit lopsided and shaky, Kenma realizes he doesn’t have to say it, at least not today, because Kuroo knows. He sighs and lets go of Kuroo’s hand to pull him into a hug, squeezing tightly.

“I’m gonna cry,” Kuroo says after a moment, gingerly wrapping his arms around Kenma’s back.

“No crying,” Kenma says, muffled against Kuroo’s chest.

“I think it’s my birthright to be sappy.”

Kenma pinches Kuroo’s waist in an effort to make him laugh instead. “I’ve noticed.”

“Don’t start complaining now,” Kuroo says, catching Kenma’s hand when he tries to pinch him again. “After everything I’ve done for us.”

Resisting the urge to roll his eyes at Kuroo’s newfound smugness, Kenma says, “You could have just told me like a normal person.”

“Absolutely not.”

“So you’re saying you were scared.”

“Shut it, you’re one to talk.” It’s Kenma’s turn to get pinched now, so he twists out of Kuroo’s arms with a yelp.

After they've fought out their tickle match, they walk over to Kenma's place for dinner. It's only a few steps, but it's long enough for Kenma to take in the beautiful colors of the sunset, glowing orange and pink, almost gold in some places. Kuroo's hand is warm in his, and Kenma is pretty sure that's why it looks special today.

♡

“I’m home,” Kuroo says as he walks into Kenma’s gaming room, still wearing his work suit.

“Hey,” Kenma answers, not bothering to look up. His full focus is on editing videos right now, since he’s behind schedule and trying to put something up by tomorrow.

He’s jolted out of his concentration when Kuroo sets a vase down on his desk, filled with nine deep red roses.

Trying not to grin, Kenma says, “You really need to stop wasting our money like this.”

“Don’t worry, they gave me a discount when I told them I had to apologize for something.”

“But you don’t.”

“What matters is, I got the discount,” Kuroo says, sounding way too satisfied with himself.

Kenma rolls his eyes, but still tilts his face up for Kuroo to kiss him.

Over the years, he’s received varying numbers of roses, but nine is probably his favorite.

“ _I want to be with you forever.”_

**Author's Note:**

> I'm getting arrested for the amount of cheese in this but like... I had fun... I didn't know anything about flower language except roses = romance before starting this so I feel like a whole new world has opened up to me lmao
> 
> Also I'm working on two other fics right now and I'm hoping to post one of them by the end of next week. I'm purely telling you this because I hope it will make me hold myself accountable sdfsdfgfd
> 
> Kudos and comments legit mean the world to me, thank you so much for reading!! ❤️  
> (also sorry if any of you got a double email notification for this I messed something up the first time I posted it cause I have clown disorder)
> 
> Tumblr: [eska-rina](https://eska-rina.tumblr.com)  
> Twitter: [Eskarina69](https://twitter.com/Eskarina69)  
> 


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